Inspirations

WHAT IF I’M NOT OK?

We invite you to mindfully breathe as you read this weekly letter. Perhaps you were one of the many people who brought in the new year with a big exhale that 2020 is behind us and with new intentions for 2021. After enduring the past year, 2021 has already been startling. Like many of us, the political violence from last week has likely impacted you. Let’s be honest, it is a lot to comprehend. Do you find yourself not ok?

The images and events of last Wednesday’s actions have stirred up many uncomfortable emotions. It makes us feel like our external environment is out of control. That external chaos can influence our experience with intense emotional uncertainty combined with fear.

Are you allowed to validate yourself to feel not ok? Maybe you’re trying to return to a baseline. It is hard. It is very hard. Instead of stopping your discomfort, we encourage you to move towards self-care and pursue gentle connections with individuals in your community. Reach out to a bigger wider circle of individuals. During the pandemic, we continue to be isolated. In order to manage the pandemic, we go off to our self contained bubbles. Now is the time to act differently. Reach out to a community to share open and real information. Our contributing and connecting behavior gives us accountability and support to manage these emotions.

For some, this unease is not new. These feelings are familiar. In this current moment, we hope you turn toward your breath, use your distress tolerance skills and allow your feelings to be present.

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

GOAL SETTING

We made it! 2021 is here! 2020 was a challenging ride, filled with uncertainty, questioning, surprise and loss. Many of us are overjoyed to welcome a New Year. However, understanding the impact of 2020 on our self development is vital. Last week we asked you all to reflect on the past year with curiosity and mindful questioning. This week we will focus on the importance of goal setting as a traditional practice to ring in the New Year.

Around this time, many of us have already started to create new fitness or eating routines, googled new hobbies to start, or have invested in radical behavioral changes. If we have learned anything this past year, it is that 2020 was different than many of us had planned. Thus, our goal setting and intentions for 2021 will also look less traditional. As you begin to start planning and developing your goals and intentions for the New Year, we are reminded of the DBT skill building mastery.

Building mastery is a skill that helps build self-esteem and confidence through the completion of tasks that foster capability. The building mastery skill helps us build efficiency and increase the chances of achieving our goals through severals steps. When planning your goals for this year, the first step is to think about the specifics. Ask yourself the who, what, where, and whys.  Second, plan ways to measure your goal. How will you know when your goal is reached? How will you track your progress?  Third, aim for success, not failure. When goal setting, it is important to plan for success by setting achievable tasks and increasing the difficulty overtime. Ask yourself, what is a doable and realistic starting point? Lastly, encourage yourself. When we start to regularly engage in our goals and set realistic intentions it is important to begin to encourage ourselves. We may start to say, “I got this!”, “I am doing it!”, “I am worthy.” This is important in reinforcing our success and competence. As we begin a New Year, what are some of your goals? How are you beginning to plan for success? What are some barriers to meeting your goals?  How are you encouraging yourself to keep going?

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

A YEAR OF QUESTIONS

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GIVING

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LIGHT

Welcome to the home stretch! If you have not realized, we are three weeks away from a New Year. This week as many celebrate Hanukkah, the “festival of lights,” we are reminded of the spirit of hope that has started to fill the air in the most festive month of 2020. A common symbol of wisdom, light reflects the importance of commemorating the past, but also illuminating the present and the future.

In DBT, a translatable skill to this symbol is the idea of cultivating meaning in our distress. As we reflect on this year, try improving moments with meaning and using light as a guide to help us in the present moment and move us towards the future. This year has taught us that we cannot control what happens, only how we choose to respond. This year taught us how to feel, and how to be mindful of our emotions, even when uncomfortable. Through the ups and downs, we have grown to learn that it is okay to emote and grieve when things do not turn out the way we intended.

As we look back on 2020, what type of meaning have you created? How are you searching for light as a guide towards your longer term goals? How are you using and expressing light in the final month of 2020? Most importantly, how are you decorating with lights this year during holiday traditions?

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

HOLIDAYS AND FAMILY

The weather is changing and holiday season decorations and reminders are everywhere.  Maintaining motivation is becoming an increasing challenge for many people.  As our weeks of managing our physical, emotional and fiscal health have turned into months, the isolation can undermine enthusiasm for the holidays.

In DBT, we remind our community of clinicians and clients to reach deep into the Distress Tolerance Skills.  In particular, we hope to remind everyone to practice encouragement.  Could you, right now, use some words of encouragement?  At this point, we could all use some encouragement to lift our spirits. What does your inner cheerleader sound like?  Who frequently encourages you?  Please surround yourself with people who remind you of the greatness within, especially, when you don’t see it yourself.

When supporting yourself, your clients, or your team remember it can be helpful to increase encouragement for physical activity, communication, and enjoyment.  We at Metro want to ask everyone to practice different forms of encouragement.  Try to utilize verbal and non-verbal encouragement.  The most important thing is to be positive about the effort that you, your clients and your team put forth to navigate this holiday season during a pandemic.

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HOLIDAYS AND FAMILY

Hello, hello! We hope you all had a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. At Metro, we agree Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays given its relationship to gratitude. We also can get on board with any holiday where it is perfectly valid to have numerous helpings of potatoes followed by a variety of pies.

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